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The apparel was created in India in the 1940s as Band Gale Ka Coat (English: "Closed Neck Coat") and has been popular on the Indian subcontinent since, especially as the top half of a suit worn on formal occasions.

It began to be marketed as the Nehru jacket in the Europe and America in the mid-1960s; it was briefly popular there in the late 1960s and early 1970s, its popularity spurred by growing awareness of foreign cultures, by the minimalism of the Mod lifestyle, and, in particular, by the Monkees and the Beatles, who popularised the garment.[1][2]

Once thought to be a possible new standard for formal wear for men (perhaps even replacing the Tuxedo) the Nehru jacket instead fell rapidly in popularity within just a few years.[3]

In India, the Nehru jacket continues to be popular and is often termed "band-gala" (i.e. closed-neck). The suit worn by Narendra Modi, the prime minister of India, on the occasion of a state visit by Barack Obama in 2015 was widely discussed and eventually auctioned for $695,000.[4]